by Jake Olen, SDA Communications Student Intern
The Arizona State men's basketball team fell to No. 5 UCLA 87-75 in front of a full house at Wells Fargo Arena Thursday night. After falling behind by nine at the half, Arizona State crawled back to get within two before the Bruins eventually pulled away.
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"What a great crowd," said head coach Bobby Hurley about the atmosphere of Wells Fargo Arena. "Tremendous setting. It's everything you could ask for and hope for from your fans, showing up like that and supporting what we are doing."
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Arizona State shot .388 percent (26-of-67) from the field, including .412Â (14-of-34) percent from three-point range. The Sun Devils main struggle was the size of UCLA. The Bruins outscored the Sun Devils 50-22 in the paint and grabbed 49 boards compared to 30 from ASU.
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"Based on how we defended, I thought we guarded the line fairly well on defense," said coach Hurley. "But on the flip side there wasn't a lot of help around the basket, so we got hurt in the paint. I mean, they're so balanced, they have the inside scoring, experience, exceptional perimeter guys. They're the real deal looking at their chances moving forward. But I am proud of how we fought and competed tonight."
The Sun Devils had four players in double figures, including a game high 28 points from Torian Graham. Graham shot 7-of-14 from behind the arc, which moves him up to third place in single-season three pointers in ASU history.
TORIAN GRAHAM 20+ GAMES (12)
30 at Stanford (12/30/16)
29 at Washington (2/18/17)
28 vs. #5 UCLA (2/23/17)
26 at #3 UCLA (1/19/17)
26 vs. Central Arkansas (12/22/16)
24 vs. Stanford (2/11/17)
24 at USC (1/22/17)
24 vs. #9 Creighton (12/20/16)
23 vs. Portland State (11/11/16)
22 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
22 vs. Tulane (11/18/16)
21 at Oregon State (2/4/17)
Kodi Justice was also clicking from deep shooting 5-of-9 from three with 19 points.
KODI JUSTICE TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
20 vs. Houston Baptist (12/19/15)
19 vs. #5 UCLA (2/23/17)
17 vs. Utah (1/7/17)
17 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
Obi Oleka recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 12 points and a team high 11 rebounds. Oleka is one double-double shy of tying the ASU single-season school record (Pac-10 era) 15 set by Ike Diogu in 2004-05.
Shannon Evan II led the team in assists with eight.
Up next, the Sun Devils host USC on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 4:30 p.m. MT on the Pac-12 Network.
ASU SINGLE-SEASON 3-POINTERSÂ
113, Stevin Smith/1992-93
96, Stevin Smith/1993-94
95, Torian Graham/2016-17Â
SUN DEVIL SINGLE-SEASON DOUBLE-DOUBLESÂ (PAC-10/12 ERA OF 1978-79 TO PRESENT)
Ike Diogu, Jr., 2004-05, 15
Obi Oleka, Sr., 2016-17, 14
Carrick Felix, Sr., 2012-13, 13
Kurt Nimphius, Sr., 1979-80, 13
PAC-12 MOST 3-POINT FIELD GOALSÂ
120, Salim Stoudamire, ARIZ, 2005Â
114, Steve Kerr, ARIZ, 1988Â
113, Stevin Smith, ASU, 1993Â
112, Damon Stoudamire, ARIZ, 1995Â
110, Tajuan Porter, ORE, 2007Â
106, Jason Gardner, ARIZ, 2002Â
98, Klay Thompson, WSU, 2011Â
98, Gabe York, ARIZ, 2016Â
96, Stevin Smith, ASU, 1994Â
95, Torian Graham, ASU, 2017
94, Orlando Williams, ORE, 1995
91, Bryce Alford, UCLA, 2017
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PAC-12Â MOST 3-POINT FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS ALL GAMESÂ
300, Stevin Smith, ASU, 1993Â
276, Jason Gardner, ARIZ, 2002Â
265, Damon Stoudamire, ARIZ, 1994Â
260, Stevin Smith, ASU, 1994Â
252, Tajuan Porter, ORE, 2007Â
249, Desmon Farmer, USC, 2004Â
246, Klay Thompson, WSU, 2011Â
244, Jeremy Green, STAN, 2010Â
243, Torian Graham, ASU, 2017
BEST OPPONENT RECORDS AT WFA (1978-79 to Present/MINIMUM 20 WINS)
ASU 69, #2 Arizona (23-1/.958) 66, 2 OT--Feb. 14, 2014
#3 Arizona (25-2/.926) 101, ASU 73--Feb. 27, 1988
ASU 81, #6 Arizona (20-2/.909) 78 --Feb. 7, 2015
#1 Arizona (20-2/.909) 92, ASU 72--Feb. 22, 2003
#2 Stanford (25-3/.893) 65, ASU 57--March 11, 2000
#5 UCLA (24-3/.889) 87, ASU 75--Feb. 23, 2017
#4 UCLA (24-3/.889) 70, ASU 49--Feb. 28, 2008
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